Sometimes, even I have to admit, I have the coolest job.
Back in January, there was a contest amongst the cooking schools related to our financial metrics for that fiscal month. The prize--a trip to the Culinary Institute of America's Worlds of Flavor Conference in Napa Valley, California, for two of the chefs. And I was one of the chefs! When I found out I was going to go to the conference, I knew I wanted to stay and have a little vacation (I mean, who wouldn't?). So, after a flurry of emails, texts, and a reservation on AirBNB, two of my best girlfriends flew out from Texas to meet me for the weekend.
The conference was held at CIA's campus at Greystone in St. Helena, California. The conference explored what inspires today's chefs, what gets their creative juices flowing. How do they take the framework of classic technique, or indigenous flavor profiles and turn that into "their" food. How do they build communities--within their kitchens, within their regions, with their vendors. We had presentations from some of the best chefs around the world--Michelin stars, James Beard awards, Food & Wine Best Chefs, established chefs with small food/restaurant empires, and young/up-and-coming chefs who are putting their mark on the food scene with their first restaurants. There was a particular emphasis on emerging Latin chefs and flavors, so we had chefs from Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru.
Many of the presentations started with the chefs telling their story, about their journey to their style of cuisine, about how they formulated their concepts for their restaurants, about how they built relationships within their communities and with local farmers, and then finished with a demonstration of one of their dishes. Some of the presentations were smaller, more intimately focused on a single topic or style of cooking. My favorite was the seminar on Peru, the classic ingredients and flavor profiles. The chefs walked us through a "flavor tray", small samples of different classic Peruvian ingredients, from yellow pepper sauce to fermented yucca juice to "leche de tigre" (a sauce made from a lot of citrus and the fish juice from ceviche). Several of us were researching airfare to Lima after that particular session.
Of course, the best part of the conference was the food. I don't think I stopped eating from the moment I arrived at Greystone. Most of the chefs had stalls set up in the Barrel Room at Greystone where they prepared and served samples of their dishes to the conference attendees. The conference sponsors also had stalls where their own chefs prepared dishes featuring their products, both food and wine. I ate uni tacos, salmon skin crackers, corn husk meringue, deep fried alligator and mirliton, ceviches from all over Latin America, pork belly about ten different ways, eel at least three different ways, smoked mackerel, porcini doughnuts, smoked pastrami.... (Oh my stars, the smoked pastrami.) We made our way around the Barrel Room, tasting and sampling, leaving an assortment of disposable plates and empty wine glasses in our wake.
The second evening of the conference, our group had dinner at a small restaurant in Napa, California, NineBark. If you have an image in your mind of "California cuisine", the food at NineBark is probably what you would imagine, and only in the best sense. The weather in California means that the produce is always local, always amazingly fresh, and probably some of the best you'll ever eat. NineBark takes full advantage of this, even growing many of their own fruits and vegetables in their kitchen garden. The group of us shared several dishes, starting with the pickle plate and their version of a Caesar salad.
We also ate their green gazpacho with fried oysters and salt cod beignets.
We sampled several of their desserts, but my absolute favorite was their version of an ice cream sandwich--matcha macarons with strawberry rhubarb ice cream.
Probably one of the best meals I've eaten in the last several years.
The conference ended on Friday afternoon at which point I met up with my friends from Texas. They met me in Yountville, California, where of course I had to pay homage to The French Laundry. I was only able to get my picture taken there, not actually eat, but a girl can dream....
I spent the rest of the weekend traveling around wine country with my friends, mostly in Sonoma County, visiting vineyards, sampling wines, exploring the picturesque countryside, sampling wines, walking through town squares, and, oh yes, sampling wines. I learned about the different varietals. I tasted wines made from the same grapes but from two different areas of the same vineyard to understand the impact of location on the flavor of the wine. I learned that the rose bushes we saw planted everywhere, even amongst the vines, served as the "canaries in the coal mine"--roses react very similarly to grapes to changes in environment, diseases, insects, so if the roses start to look sad, it's an indicator to the farmer that something may be going on with the grapes. I was also surprised to learn that I have a pretty good palate--more than one sommelier reacted with pleasure when I was able to detect flavor elements in the wine that most miss.
I was also very happy to learn that it's now legal to ship small amounts of wine to Pennsylvania for personal consumption--I had been warned to label the boxes "olive oil" to avoid detection. Thankfully, the very kind woman at the UPS store set me straight and got me set up with a shipping company that has all the proper licensing. Good thing, too, between the three of us, we had quite a haul to send home.
We also ate at some amazing restaurants in Sonoma County. Saturday night, we had dinner at The Farmhouse Inn near Healdsburg, California. In some ways, it couldn't have been more the opposite of NineBark--in menu, in atmosphere, in approach. Old school, classic French, elegant plating, white linen napkins, three courses, a sommelier to help choose the wines with each course. Ladies in dresses and gentlemen in coats and ties. Candles and soft lighting. But, like NineBark, everything was fresh, local, in season, and prepared with extreme skill.
The meal began with an amuse bouche of cured local trout on a spring pea bellini.
My first course was grilled octopus on a fennel salad. The octopus was prepared perfectly--smoky and tender.
My second course was rabbit three ways--the leg with mustard sauce, the loin wrapped in bacon, and the roasted rack. (I had flashbacks to frenching rabbit rib bones in culinary school.)
Dessert was apricot souffle, simply divine.
Like NineBark, probably one of the best meals I've eaten in the last few years.
One of the advantages of renting a house on AirBNB is that we had a full kitchen at our disposal. We also had a bottle of sparkling wine, so Sunday morning we decided to have brunch at the house before heading out for the day.
The kitchen was equipped with a few pots and pans, the basic gadgets, and several of the prior guests had left some pantry staples behind (salt, pepper, assorted vegetable oils), as well as a few oddities (instant mushroom soup, minibar bottles of Vodka, maple brown sugar oatmeal packets). We purchased eggs, butter, asparagus, potatoes, spring onions, fruit, and some cheese from the local market, and I set about making us a frittata for breakfast. The largest skillet was only about 9 inches in diameter, so I cooked the frittata in the stockpot (that was fun trying to de-pan). The skillet was just large enough for me to brown the potatoes prior to serving. I hated the idea of not using the entire bunch of gorgeous local parsley (so freshly picked, the roots were still attached and covered in dirt), but we had a blender, so I made a pesto for garnish. I kept mental notes as I prepared breakfast, so you'll find the recipes at the end of this posting. I mean, what is a food blog without a recipe!
As much as I didn't want it to, the weekend eventually had to come to an end. Our last evening we had dinner at The Girl and the Fig in Sonoma. A very different vibe and style of cuisine from our dinner at the Farmhouse Inn or the meal I had at NineBark. The diners were a mixture of locals, tourists (we ran into a couple that we chatted with at a tasting room earlier that afternoon), and even celebrities (Beau Bridges was dining there that night). The Girl and the Fig has been around for almost 20 years, and the restaurant is just one part of a larger corporation, including a catering company, product line, cookbooks, and even artwork. Figs were prominent all over the menu, from signature cocktails (I had the Fig Royale), to appetizers, salads, main courses, and dessert.
Rather than ordering a full meal, I opted for two starter/appetizer courses. The chef was famous for her Fig and Arugula salad, so I of course had to order that. I also indulged in the duck liver pate with strawberry rhubarb jam.
The three of us shared the fig and port ice cream for dessert. Just delicious.
It struck me as we were eating that last evening that I had experienced in these three very different California restaurants the same overarching themes presented at the conference. In each of these restaurants, the chefs were taking their inspiration from the local foods, ingredients, and atmosphere of their region, even their own backyard, and turning it into "their" food. One was the proven chef with her many-pronged business approach, menu "standards", and an established reputation. One gave us an old-school, classic, elegant, fine-dining experience, what you might expect in Europe or a Michelin guide book. One was all hipster, California cool, farm to table, deliberately casual while still exhibiting incredible discipline and technique. Their vibes, their flavor profiles, their culinary technique and approach were all so different, but all were incredibly successful and delicious. As I got on the plane to come home, I found myself informed, inspired, and more excited to be a chef than I've felt in a long time. And, incredibly full from eating so much amazing food.
And, now for that brunch recipe!
Asparagus and Spring Onion Frittata with Parsley Pesto and Buttered Marble Potatoes
Serves 3 to 4
For the frittata:
½ bunch asparagus, cut diagonally into 1 inch pieces
6 large eggs
½ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
½ cup grated cheese, such as comte, gruyere, or white cheddar
2 tablespoons butter
½ bunch red spring onions, thinly sliced, green tops sliced and reserved
½ red bell pepper, seeded and diced
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and stems discarded
2 tablespoons sliced spring onion greens
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 ½ pounds fingerling or marble potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons thinly sliced spring onions greens
Kosher salt and black pepper
For the frittata:
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the asparagus and cook until bright green, and just cooked, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and run the asparagus under cold water to stop the cooking.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, parsley, a generous pinch of onion greens, cheese, salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the spring onions and bell peppers and cook, stirring, until the onions and peppers are softened and translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the asparagus and stir to mix. Pour in the egg mixture and stir to evenly distribute the peppers, onions, and asparagus. Reduce the heat to medium low and allow the frittata to cook from the bottom up without stirring. After about 5 minutes, cover the pan with a lid, this will help to set the eggs.
Slide the frittata out of the skillet onto a cutting board, slice into wedges, garnish with the pesto and serve.
For the pesto:
Place all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Add additional oil as needed to adjust the consistency of the pest. Season to taste with additional salt, pepper and vinegar.
For the potatoes:
Place the potatoes in a large saucepan of cool tap water and place over high heat. Bring to a boil and add a large pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to medium high and continue to cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a paring knife. Drain the potatoes.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once melted, add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are warmed through and beginning to brown. Add the parsley and spring onion greens, and season with salt and pepper. Serve.
